To be honest, he missed what she said to start with, and had to ask her to repeat what she had said. She had a different accent, it sounded almost foreign to his London ears.
At this point, Lee’s mother stepped in.
“Lee, how about asking your friend to come in?”
“Huh? Oh, um, right, do you want to come in?” Lee asked.
The older woman stepped forward.
“Hello, I’m Gwen; I am so sorry about this. If this is an inconvenient time, we can come back later?”
“We were about to have lunch,” Laura said, staring daggers at Lee.
“It’s not my fault, Mum, she emailed me!”
Laura regarded the couple. The older woman looked very respectable, while the girl, presumably Tamsyn, was very pretty and oozing with confidence. Laura guessed her to be much the same age as Lee.
“Look, I’ve actually made a big steak and kidney pie. There’s plenty, if you’d care to join us?”
Gwen started to decline, but Tamsyn got there first.
“We really shouldn’t, as that is so generous of you, and this is important. Thanks, we will.” With that, she walked straight in. Gwen shrugged and followed.
“You’re Lee, right?” Tamsyn asked, as Laura sat them down in the dining room. She stared at Lee, openly appraising the boy, which made him feel very self-conscious.
“Uh, yes. Lee Hobbs.”
“Not Grif?”
“Uh, no.”
“Pity, I like the name Grif. You’re bigger than I expected.”
“Uh, yeah, well in the game, I’m supposed to squeeze through small gaps.”
“You look more like a warrior than a thief.”
“I’m only a thief in the game. I’ve never actually stolen anything in real life.”
“I’m Tamsyn.”
“Uh, for real?”
“For real. Tamsyn Morrghan.”
“I can’t place your accent. Is that Welsh?” Laura asked.
“Cornish. The Welsh and Cornish languages were linked for many years and only started to split around twelve hundred years ago,” the girl explained.
Tamsyn took off the scarf from around her neck, as it was getting too hot.
Lee saw the torque immediately.
“The torque!”
Tamsyn smiled and nodded.
“It’s real?” he asked.
“Looks that way.”
“How did you find me?” he asked.
“Ah, that’d be telling. How about we have lunch and we’ll speak about why I’ve come later?”
Lee nodded but was eager to know what was so important.
Laura was surprised, in a pleasant way. Gwen and Tamsyn were good company, and didn’t eat too much. Indeed, there was still some pie left over when she cleared away. She was surprised when she found Tamsyn helping her unasked, and then discovered that Lee was also in the kitchen, having cleared the rest of the dishes. Laura decided that Tamsyn was an excellent motivator for her son.
Dessert was some apple crumble and custard. Again, her guests didn’t eat a lot, but were polite and told her that it was delicious.
They helped clear away and even wash up, but then Tamsyn grabbed Lee by the arm.
“We need to talk!” she said.
Lee took her upstairs to his bedroom. Laura couldn’t help but be dismayed, knowing that his room was a tip. She rolled her eyes and looked to Gwen for help.
“I give up, why do they put us through these things? Were we like that at their age?” she asked.
“I can’t speak for you, but I was probably worse. I grew up in the fifties and sixties, I think I caused my father enormous heart-ache.”
“Is Tamsyn your daughter?” Laura asked, knowing that there was a very large age gap, so she could just be a grand-daughter.
“No relation, I’m afraid. She’s a dear friend, and we share interests in language and Cornish culture. We’re trying to solve an ancient puzzle and came up to see a man about a sword. He wasn’t awfully helpful, and I have absolutely no idea what Tamsyn wants to speak to your son about.”
“I have no idea, either. I mean, the boy has no interests at all apart from that idiotic computer game. Is Tamsyn interested in the same game?”
Gwen paused, unwilling and unable to really state what Tamsyn was or was not interested in.
“Tamsyn takes everything quite seriously. Certainly, as long as I’ve known her, she’s not played any games at all.”
“What does she do?”
“Well, she works part time in a guest house in Falmouth, but is at the moment between her first and second years at Portsmouth University.”
“I hope to God that Lee get’s his head in gear. He should be on a year out before starting at university this autumn, but he does nothing except play that damn game!”
“I think you might find that Tamsyn will bring him out of his shell.”
“I hope you’re right.”
The women went on to discuss education and young people generally, as the two young people sat in front of Lee’s computer.
“So,” said Lee, somewhat baffled and confused. “You’re saying that the game is real?”
“Yes and no. Elements of the game are taken from legends that are just that – legends. The game-makers probably found a few legends, merged them and formed the game around them. However, elements of each of the legends were probably true, but so altered by time that they would be unrecognisable. There are parts of the legend that live on and are as real today as they were then.”
“You mean the sword?”
“Yes, the sword that Brandt stole.”
She had spent the last few minutes telling Lee the account of how Brandt got hold of the sword.
“Did he kill the boy?”
“I don’t know, probably, because that’s the kind of man he was. It doesn’t matter now, because it was fifteen hundred years ago.”
Lee frowned.
“So, why are you doing this?”
“Because it’s why I am.”
Lee glanced at her. It was an odd thing to say.
“Who are you?” he asked. “Really?”
“Really?” she asked back, staring at him with her dark eyes. He was built like an athlete, one who could not only run for a long way, but also carry weights as he did so. He had nice eyes and a ready smile. His fair hair was unruly, thick and a little long but not long enough to do anything with. She turned her head and tried to imagine him with very long hair. As it was, the type of hair it was she didn’t feel it would flow heroically, more frizz confusingly. Then, she frowned and instead imagined him with very short hair.
“You need a haircut,” she said.
He swallowed, feeling uncomfortable. It was almost like being in the game again. Only here, if you died, you didn’t get to start over again where you last saved to.
“Why?”
“Because you’d look more like a hero with short hair. At the moment, it’s scruffy and makes you look less organised. If you grew it longer, it might just look silly.”
“Organised?”
He was baffled.
“If you have to be a hero, you need to look the part,” she said, grinning at his discomfort.
She then said a sentence that seemed utter gibberish to him; oh, it was melodic and obviously a language, just not one he could understand.
“What did you say?” he asked.
“That was the Celtic tongue. I said that am the Lady Tamsyn; the lady of the Tree. I am here to find the sword and return it to where it was forged across the water. Do you wish to become my hero and help me?”
“What’s so special about the sword?”
Tamsyn paused.
“I honestly don’t know, but it has powers that cannot be explained by science. This torque is the same. All I know is that I have to take it back and try to place it where it belongs.”
“What about the torque?”
“That is mine. I can never take it off.”
“What would happen if you did.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“What if someone else did?”
“It would be the last thing they’d do.”